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Articles by 任文青Andy
Browse 107 New Distribution articles by 任文青Andy.
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Private Labels Rise, New Brands Divert, Big Brands Get Stuck in the Middle
On April 8, McKinsey released a report titled "The State of Food and Beverage: How Consumer Companies Can Restore Growth." Many cases and key data in the report are more US-centric, but it takes a global perspective, with one underlying sample being a survey covering 10 markets and 15,169 consumers. After reading it, I felt that many of the issues discussed are highly relevant to the current situation in the Chinese market. New Distribution has been focused on changes in China's FMCG industry, and some of our viewpoints and perspectives, such as...
任文青AndyThe Era of FMCG Distribution is Over
The more diligent, the more losses. Late one night before the Lunar New Year, I received a call from a friend. He has been an FMCG distributor in North China for 20 years, representing household-name brands. During the 'golden two decades,' he was almost synonymous with success: more brands, bigger warehouses, higher sales figures. But that night, he said, 'Teacher Wenqing, this past year has been really tough. I find myself in a vicious cycle: the more diligent, the more losses.' He broke down 'diligence' in detail: to keep the business alive, he added every possible lever—pressing another round of stock, adding a promotion, stacking another rebate, hiring people to monitor displays, end caps, and sell-through. The goods entered the stores, but two weeks later, when he followed up, the end caps were still there, the shelves were still there, the inventory was still there—the only thing missing was sales.
任文青AndyFrom Pioneer to Leader: Damowang Opens a New Track of Rich-Flavor Snacks with Sesame Sauce Konjac Tripe
At the 2026 Chengdu Sugar Fair, a stark contrast was observed: industry-wide anxiety over slow sales, high inventory, and price chaos versus the bustling booth of Yanjin Shop's Damowang, where distributors crowded to inquire and order. Frost & Sullivan's latest certification shows Damowang's Sesame Sauce Konjac Tripe has been the national sales leader for three consecutive years, proving it as a truly reliable product in a market flooded with options.
任文青AndyNew Distribution's Ren Wenqing: The Old Distribution System Fails in an Era of Oversupply!
At the 11th China FMCG Conference held in Chengdu from March 16-18, 2026, Ren Wenqing, CEO of New Distribution, delivered a keynote speech titled '2026 New Distribution Annual Insight: From Linear Distribution to Supply-Demand Matching System.' This article summarizes the core of his speech, which argues that the FMCG industry is shifting from a linear distribution model to a supply-demand matching system, driven by the need to address oversupply and changing consumer behaviors.
任文青AndyBiut Meng Fanzhong: If Supermarkets All Die, Do Brands Have a Better Position?
In a recent phone call, Meng Fanzhong, chairman of Biut Commercial Group and Zhenshimei Supply Chain, posed a striking question: 'If chain supermarkets all die, do brands have a better position?' Having just achieved Biut's 'Double Hundred Goal'—100 stores and 10 billion in sales by 2025—and managing Zhenshimei, a supply chain platform covering 50 billion in retail scale, he shared insights from six years of validation since 2019.
任文青AndySay Goodbye to Channel Stuffing: Every Channel Deserves a Rethink
A closed-door conversation with a brand general manager about where future growth will come from reveals that the radical transformation of new retail formats is forcing brands to cede power, while traditional distributors, though still holding the majority of market share, are struggling with dwindling momentum. The consensus reached is that all future growth must revolve around consumers, but this requires a fundamental organizational shift from a B2B-oriented command structure to a C-end-centric one, enabled by digital tools that connect brands, distributors, salespeople, terminals, and consumers in real time.
任文青AndyPatchwork Adjustments Cannot Save Retail
China's retail industry is currently in an unprecedented wave of 'adjustment fever.' However, without understanding the underlying logic, merely making tactical patches will not save retailers. Zhang Zhiqiang, a leading expert in category management, emphasizes that true adjustment must focus on category management, shifting from a supply-side to a customer perspective, and requires collaboration with upstream suppliers.
任文青AndyDialogue with Chen Liping: 'De-intermediation' Is a False Proposition!
In the winter of 2025-2026, China's FMCG and retail industry seems to be in a collective 'confusion'. On one hand, there is visible involution: e-commerce platforms compare prices, livestream e-commerce breaks prices, and hard discount stores slash prices. On the other hand, there is a panic spreading deep in the channels—de-intermediation. Platforms shout 'direct sourcing from the source', various new retail models shout 'direct supply from manufacturers', and brands ponder DTC (Direct to Consumer). It seems that overnight, distributors, agents, and wholesalers who have been struggling in this industry for decades have become redundant roles hindering efficiency.
任文青AndyThe Power of Time: Lightning Warehouse Operations Launch New Products, Breaking 100 Million in One Year | Case Study of the 'Next-Generation Intermediary'
In the FMCG industry, the narrative of 'dealer extinction' has persisted for over five years. Yet the reality is that intermediaries will not disappear; only the 'old-style intermediaries' who merely move goods and rely on relationship-based financing will vanish. As New Distribution has consistently observed, 'de-intermediation' is a false proposition, but 'iterating intermediaries' is a real one. Recently, I had an in-depth conversation with 'Time Power,' a company founded by three former Shanghai Jahwa executives—Chen Xin, Song Derui, and Wang Rongmiao—with an average team age of 26. In just one year, they captured nearly 50% of the lightning warehouse market share for Baicaowei and propelled the emerging brand Suanzhanggui (Manshanchan) to annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan.
任文青AndyGrowth Is Poison
This article, which I have held in my heart for two full years, argues that in the era of oversupply, the traditional pursuit of growth as a goal is self-destructive. Instead, companies must focus on internal order and precise market matching, with growth emerging only as a byproduct.
任文青AndyThe Self-Deceiving Manufacturer-Dealer Relationship Can No Longer Be Sustained
After extensive discussions with brand owners and distributors, the author concludes that the manufacturer-dealer relationship must change or collapse. The past year has seen unprecedented inventory pressure, sluggish sell-through, disputed expense reimbursements, price erosion, and widespread channel conflict. The old growth model of pushing inventory is no longer viable in an era of oversupply, and the future requires a shift from a 'upstream-downstream' dynamic to a 'left hand-right hand' partnership focused on matching supply with demand and moving toward the consumer.
任文青AndyRen Wenqing of New Distribution: Warehouse-as-a-Store Becomes the New Terminal, Brands Must Occupy Positions Early
On November 25, 2025, the '2025 Instant Retail Supply Summit and First Instant Retail Warehouse-Store Product Matchmaking Conference' was held in Hangzhou, where Ren Wenqing, CEO of New Distribution, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Viewing Supply-Demand Matching from Instant Retail: How Brands Grow in an Era of Surplus?' Core viewpoints: 1. Warehouse-as-a-store becomes the new terminal. 2. The logic of instant retail development is supply-demand matching. 3. Matching is the first growth law in the era of surplus. This article is a core summary of the speech. Instant retail has moved from traffic wars to supply wars. Today, brands...
任文青AndyLightning Warehouses Change, Brands Panic
On October 31, Taobao Flash Purchase launched 'Taobao Convenience Stores', marking a shift in instant retail competition from traffic to supply. Brands must now focus on controllable supply, moving from 'goods suppliers' to 'brand service providers' to win in the new warehouse-store system.
任文青AndyRetail is Phasing Out a Batch of Brands
Over the past six months, a consensus has emerged on the front lines of the market: it's getting harder for brands. New retail players are expanding their private label (PB) offerings, top brands are increasingly manufacturing for retailers, some distributors are refusing to stock goods due to price inversions, and many mid-tier brands are being squeezed off shelves.
任文青AndyWithout 'Controllable Supply', Brands Will Miss Out on Instant Retail
This year, the retail change that has most unsettled FMCG manufacturers is 'instant retail'. A dealer from a fifth-tier city found that instant retail has already taken 10% of his business, while a post-90s dealer grew from zero to 80 million yuan in one year by shifting focus. Brands must prioritize 'controllable supply' to seize the deterministic growth opportunities of instant retail.
任文青AndyThe Impact of Instant Retail Has Been Seriously Underestimated!
Instant retail, a topic that has suddenly become hot this year, has left many people stunned. Recently, many brands have asked me: 'Teacher Ren, what exactly is instant retail? How is it different from traditional e-commerce? How should we respond?' In our recent training sessions for brand executives, instant retail has been a core topic. Some say its impact is overestimated, as it accounts for less than 2% of China's 50 trillion yuan social retail market. However, judging by trends and its disruptive effects, I believe its impact is underestimated, especially for FMCG brands.
任文青AndyNew Distribution Ren Wenqing: The Fall of the 'Selling Field' and the Rise of the 'Buying Field'
At the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference held in Shanghai on August 20, 2025, Ren Wenqing, CEO of New Distribution, delivered a keynote speech titled 'From Price War to Matching War: Understanding the Logic of Production-Supply-Marketing Transformation Behind Retail Noise.' His core viewpoints: 1. The 'selling field' is falling, and the 'buying field' is rising. 2. Price competition has reached its limit; the next focus is matching. 3. Brands should adjust not product specifications but their industrial role positioning and organizational logic. This article is a core summary of the speech.
任文青AndyBehind Sam's Club's 'Mistake': Retailers' Open Conspiracy, Brands' Helplessness
Sam's Club put Orion products on its shelves, got criticized on social media, and finally removed them—sounds unbelievable, but it really happened. What is truly being 'rejected' is not Sam's Club but a group of mass-market brands. Consumers' subtext is: 'I pay for membership to experience better choices, not to buy products I'm already tired of.' This incident, on the surface, is Sam's Club's 'mistake,' but it actually reflects that consumers are changing, perceptions are changing, and the logic of product appeal is changing too. In response, more and more retailers are increasing their focus on private labels.
任文青AndyThe Historical Mission of Distributors Has Changed!
Distributors' businesses are increasingly difficult. Some distributors say, "Goods are placed at terminals but don't sell; after more than a decade, I don't know whether to persist." Even top regional distributors report rising sales but sharply declining profits. From B2b to various e-commerce, from community group buying to hard discount, distributors are the most affected in every industry change. Voices like "de-distributorization, no middlemen to earn the difference" and "90% of distributors will die in the future" are everywhere. But is it really so?
任文青AndyThe Era of Retail Shelf-Selling Is Over
In the past two years, retail has undergone dramatic changes: snack stores and wholesale supermarkets have sprung up everywhere, engaging in successive low-price bombardments. Pangdonglai and Sam's Club have popularized 'divine service' and the 'warehouse membership model.' Yonghui and Jiajiayue have loudly advocated 'cutting out middlemen' and 'naked-price direct sourcing.' Aldi and Hema have prompted retail peers to follow suit with 'private labels.' Retail changes come one after another, leaving distributors deeply anxious. A boss who has been an agent for leisure snacks for 15 years told me: 'Some businesses are gone, some are barely surviving, but in the end, inventory still piles up! Payments still come in slowly! We middlemen, squeezed between brand pressure to stock up and terminal slow sales, are about to be dragged down...'
任文青AndyCompeting on Low Prices Is Not the Way Out
A veteran FMCG distributor in South China laments that prices have never been lower, yet sales have never been worse. This reflects a broader industry dilemma where price wars are failing, and the real need is to shift from competing on price to mastering the ability to aggregate consumer groups, understand their needs, and match supply precisely.
任文青AndyFMCG: Price Wars Are No Longer Working
The article argues that the current consumer market is in a severe supply-demand mismatch, where simply competing on price or quality is ineffective. Instead, the key to success is the ability to precisely identify and quickly meet the needs of specific consumer segments, requiring a shift from adversarial to collaborative relationships across the supply chain.
任文青AndyNo One Eating Instant Rice Anymore? Sam's Club Supplier Creates Hezhenran Brand, Selling 18 Million Boxes in One Year!
New-style instant food is struggling: Kantar data shows that in 2024, sales of China's new-style instant food market, with penetration nearing 60%, fell 9% year-on-year. A key reason is that consumers are no longer willing to pay high prices. Data indicates that across categories like instant noodles, instant hotpot, and instant rice, mid- and low-priced products are gaining share while high-priced products are declining sharply. In the new consumption era, new-style instant food, which grew rapidly during the pandemic, now faces real challenges: on one hand, consumers want healthier, better-tasting products at lower prices; on the other, the expansion of food delivery and innovation in traditional instant noodles are accelerating competition for existing market demand.
任文青Andy“Eliminating Middlemen” Is Impossible!
The retail industry's narrative of 'de-intermediation' reached a climax on March 29 when Ye Guofu declared at Yonghui's 2025 supplier conference, 'Implement naked-price direct sourcing and eliminate all middlemen!' While change is certain and de-intermediation is a trend, completely removing middlemen is a false proposition. In many cases, middlemen perform indispensable functions, and it's impossible for all retailers to deal directly with manufacturers. The real shift is not eliminating middlemen but replacing traditional distributors with more efficient new forms, such as category operators.
任文青Andy